Democrats aim to ban 'deepfake' images in North Carolina

A group of legislators are seeking to outlaw the use of artificially-generated media to influence an election — the latest move to combat misinformation aimed at voters.

Senate Bill 880, also known as the No Deepfakes in Election Commission Act, would ban the use of “deepfakes” 90 days before an election. The bill defines deepfakes as any synthetic images, audio or video generated to injure the reputation of a candidate or political party.

The bill comes as elections experts are warning voters about the rise of schemes that use artificial intelligence to spread misinformation about elections and candidates.

New Hampshire authorities earlier this year announced a criminal investigation into a robocall that faked President Joe Biden’s voice to spread election misinformation among local voters. Last year, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put out an ad for his presidential campaign that showed AI-generated images of former President Donald Trump hugging Dr. Anthony Fauci — an attempt to sour Trump’s reputation among voters who dislike Fauci.

The federal government hasn’t passed any laws targeting election misinformation fueled by AI, although the Federal Communications Commission issued an agency rule cracking down on AI-assisted robocalls after the fake Biden voice made national news.

The proposed North Carolina law would only apply to deepfakes that don’t have a disclaimer saying that the image or video or other medium was manipulated or generated by artificial intelligence.

Candidates who are the targets of deepfakes that haven’t complied with the bill’s stipulations would be allowed to seek injunctive or financial relief through the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Penalties range from less than $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the contents of the ad and the number of times someone has violated the law.

The bill faces an uphill battle to become law. It was filed by four Democrats — Sen. DeAndrea Salvador of Mecklenburg County, Gladys Robinson of Guilford County, Graig Meyer of Orange Coutny, and Lisa Grafstein of Wake County — in a legislature controlled by Republicans. To become law, the bill needs majority support in both the state house and state senate as well Gov. Roy Cooper’s signature.

House Speaker Tim Moore told WRAL earlier this year that he didn’t see the need for new laws governing AI-generated content used in campaign ads. Existing anti-defamation laws should be enough to protect candidates, Moore said.

“Once you get their voice, once you get their image — just off of television or whatever — you can go in and reconstruct it, make it look like they said anything or did anything,” Moore said in March. “There’s certainly a lot of danger in that. But I would submit to you that under our current laws, if someone were to engage in that kind of activity … it probably goes along with slander and libel.”